It Comes With The Territory...

Princess (that would be me) has not had a good week. I’ve finally been introduced to the “real” world of writing which through my cunning and wiles (and luck) I’ve managed to avoid for the past 4 years.

Here’s the deal. Rewrites in the world of writing are a given. I subscribe to several list-servs and writers’ magazines and there are entire sections devoted to writers comparing the rewrite needs of editors. You’ll see postings such as, “Good pay, but asked for 3 rewrites, the last one rather extensive,” or “Editor completely changed direction on me after I’d turned the article in.”

I’ve been lucky in that I really haven’t dealt with this. One or two of my articles have had changes made to the opening paragraphs but for the most part, I’ve been left alone.

Until now. I turned an article in last week and the editor called me Monday afternoon to let me know she…let’s see, how to phrase this? Oh, yes. She HATED the article. I don’t believe she actually used the word “hate” but she did tell me it was “unusable” the way it was. She wanted a feature article and felt I gave her more of a technical piece with “No heart. Nothing for readers to grab onto to.”

It’s difficult to hold a conversation where your work is being lambasted. What do you say? “Uh huh. Yes, I totally agree.” I mumbled my way through it and said I'd have the rewrite ready on Wednesday.

You’ve heard of Kubler-Ross’s 5 stages of grief from her book “On Death & Dying?” I’ve run the gamut in the last 48 hours. A summary:

1. Denial. I have less than 48 hours to pull off the rewrite of an article that took me over a week to write. I’d better get started. Except I can’t seem to stop shoving chocolate-chip ice cream down my throat as I watch “4 Weddings & A Funeral” – one of my many “comfort movies.”

2. Anger. Stupid woman. MY work unusable? Total bitch. Maybe I’ll call her back and tell her to shove her rewrite where the sun doesn’t shine.

3. Bargaining. Okay, I’ll do the rewrite. And it will be so good that this editor will call to apologize for ever momentarily doubting my obvious almost God-like talent. And please God, if you help me with this rewrite I promise I will never, ever procrastinate on an assignment ever again and will ONLY put forth my best effort on every project that comes my way, now and forever. Amen.

4. Depression. I consider running out to buy a paper to peruse the want ads as I’m clearly unfit for a writing career. I knew it was only a matter of time until I was discovered as a fraud. The problem isn’t that the editor is a bitch. It’s that I’m a total loser. I’m just upset with her because she was the one to see through to the truth…

5. Acceptance. After reviewing my original article, I have to admit, she’s right. It’s not a good piece. For reasons too long to go into here, I see now that I panicked myself into thinking I had to deliver this high-tech, quote filled, research filled piece. And it’s boring. She’s right to ask for a rewrite and when I think about it, she was pretty kind in how she went about it. Said she thought I was capable of better. The editor is my new best friend.

The stages didn’t just come, 1-2-3. I hopped around like a frog on drugs. I was angry, depressed, in denial, accepting, bargaining, angry again, a long stretch of depression…

But the work is done. I worked on the piece most of yesterday and was up at 4:30 am today, putting the final touches on it. It’s close to a total rewrite but I’m much happier with this piece and I hope the editor will be to. I’m kind of waiting with held breath to see if I get an e-mail saying, “Nice rewrite, thanks,” or “At least this one is almost useable.” (I'll take it.)

Until I hear, I’m going to take a nap.

An Abundance of Reading Material

Forget books. I manage to sneak in one every two weeks but the majority of my time is spent trying to keep up with my magazine reading. Anyone else have this issue? It's not a matter of wasting my time reading material I'm not interested in. I truly want to read all the magazines I subscribe to. It's just there's so many of them. In no particular order, I subscribe to:

• Newsweek
• The New Yorker
• Runner's World
• Writer's Digest
• Poets & Writers
• Catnip
• ASJA (American Society of Journalists & Authors) newsletter
• Toastmasters International magazine
• Log Home World
• Cooking Light
• Travel & Leisure
• Magazines I publish in that are sent to me and I feel somewhat obligated/interested in to read

Every magazine has its place. By far, my favorite magazine to receive is Runner's World and I rip through it the day it arrives, reading everything. Newsweek is read at breakfast over the course of a week. New Yorker articles are read at night in bed before sleep.  Cooking Light, Log Home World, and Travel & Leisure are more skimmed than read. The other magazines get carried around in my bag, to be read in snatches between appointments or while waiting to meet someone OR in bed a night once The New Yorker is finished.

Right now, I'm backlogged on Writer's Digest magazines having not read the last two issues. This is giving me heart palpitations but I'll catch up. I  always do.

Exhausted

Please bear with me if I indulge today in a bit of a whine. (I know... it's so out of character for me.)

I'm tired. Mentally and physically. Especially physically. The humidity here has been relentless and that combined with an increase in running mileage is taking its toll. I came home last night from a 7-mile hill run and pretty much collapsed into bed. Thank heavens I didn't have to do any work last night as I just don't think I would have been capable of it.

I read months ago in a runner's magazine that once your Sunday long runs move past 12 miles, you can pretty much plan on running that day and doing little else. I'm finding that true. I ran 14 miles on Sunday (and a big shout-out to me for that) but did little the rest of the day. Just too damn tired. 

Aside from being tired, I'm finding the running is taking up a big chunk of time.  For me, drive time is more the issue than time spent running. It's 40 minutes to and from wherever it is my group usually runs and that eats into the schedule. Sunday mornings used to the time Blair and I enjoyed some couple time together, relaxing and reading the Sunday paper, but I'm gone now from about 6:30 AM to close to noon.

All that aside, I'm still really enjoying the runs. The hills last night were brutal and I was sweating and tired and my thighs were shaking and I was wondering why on earth I put myself through this. But finishing the workout is such a feeling of accomplishment. Yes, going through the motions suck and that's why so many people don't do it. That's also why I enjoy doing it. It's pure ego--the knowledge that I can make myself do this when others can't.

I'm also tired mentally. Big projects all with tight deadlines. However, I'm enjoying every assignment I have and find the work interesting so I can't really complain. I will say I'm looking forward to late September when my schedule--somewhat--clears out.

Until then, I'm grateful for family that doesn't mind not hearing from me for weeks at a time, friends that encourage me and listen to me whine with (real or faked, it doesn't matter) looks of sympathy on their faces, and a husband who simply must at some point in his life be awarded the "Most Tolerant & Supportive Man EVER" lifetime achievement trophy.

I'd write more, but I'm just too tired.

Dena

Creative Writing Prompts

I've recently begun spending time each morning doing a creative writing prompt. I get up at 5, grab a cup of coffee and write for anywhere from 10-40 minutes. At this point, the prompts are random ones I'm pulling from a book. The idea is to become accustomed to doing creative writing first thing every morning so that I'll eventually move back into doing more novel writing.

This morning's prompt just asked that I list the Top 10 Events Of My Life. "Top" meaning significant. So they could be happy, traumatic, rage-invoking, mellow, whatever. I had a slow start, even forgetting things such as "moving to North Carolina." 

It's a good exercise. Try and see what you come up with. I was surprised at some of the things I'd forgotten and what was included on my final list.

If you do this exercise, chances are you list the "big" events - marriage, children, divorce, jobs, etc. The second part of the prompt asks you to list 10 more top ten events, this time feeling free to include smaller ones.

My eyes skimmed ahead so I know tomorrow's prompt involves choosing one of the things from either list and doing something with them. But I don't know what yet--sorry. =)  Still, the above exercise can be done quickly and it's interesting. If you have a few spare moments today, give it a try.